Analysing Gambia’s 2017 Appropriation Bill

(JollofNews) – This is an analysis of the Gambia’s 2017 Appropriation Bill, which was presented on 22 December 2016 by Abdoulie Kolley, former Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs of the previous APRC Government.

This the budget deficit supposedly borrowed at certain interest rates. Since this budget layout failed to explicitly show the expected debt servicing – we would safely assume the part of expected borrowing we would be paying debt. Wow! In short one reason our government is impoverishing us – take debt to pay back debt.

Notice total costs of keeping the government= D5.54b is 38.5% of total revenue. As bad as that may look, that includes D5.86b we rely on grants (begging/philanthropists) of others. Examine the same number against our own revenue (taxes/non tax revenues). It’s 64.9%! Another reason why we are so poor. And these figures didn’t show the effects of corruptions, fraud and inefficiencies of our systems

These need to change! We can do it! It will only take sincerity towards the affairs of the sovereign rather than our personal power hauling and/or self-enrichment.

Here are few areas to consider for a fix:

Reduce the number of ministries: We definitely don’t need 19 ministries to effectively manage our affairs. At this point I will not give those Ministries I think shouldn’t exist and/or should be collapse into others. Go figure!

Restructure government systems and procedures: Can’t still believe we are holding tight to a Secretary (at the door) and a Boss in the inner room – both with big Dell Computers with a price tag not less than D50K; yet all they do is pass phone calls and hand write and editing a 2-3 line memo to be shared internally. Good switch boarding can solve telephone distribution issues and basic email and/or intercom can address all internal communications. Simply take out all the fat off these bones – Lay offs!

Dissolve the army, SIS, Gendarmerie, PIU, etc.: A well sized, trained and police can do every law enforcement that maybe needed in the foreseeable future. This will eliminate the civil rights/liberties abuses of these organizations

Divest all public corporations/agencies: In a D14 billion budget their contribution came only within that D674 million portion. In essence they are not the economic engines. Placing them in the hands of private investment will either make them efficient (very likely) or fail (unlikely because the private investor will protect his/her investment). Continuous public ownership of these corporations incubates corruption and inefficiency.

Ground the public vehicle fleet, close the repair shops and seize fuel deliveries: A review to fulfill just what’s necessary will see nothing less than 80% of sell off.

Decentralize government and governance: Let go power/authority and resources go to the Regions, Districts, and villages. Their affairs will be address appropriately and timely. Accountabilities and transparencies will be improved with the layering and conflicting authority structures.

Increase domestic revenue: Do not jump on increasing taxes of any kind at the moment. More government seizure of private property/fruits of our labor could constrict economic growth and overall improvement of living quality – un-economic reallocation of capital. First things first – clean out the existing collection regime.

Abdou Kolley, ex-minister of Finance

No more collectors with school bags collecting cash from market vendors, drivers, etc. with no practical ways to proof either ways who paid, what was paid, for what and how much. Stop collecting arbitrary numbers from shopkeepers, drivers, hotels, tailors and businesses to collection of a defined proportion of taxable income. That’s fair for both sides and verifiable. We have to begin income reporting so that all taxable incomes are not only appropriately tax but also pay into our coffers and not syphoned by the collectors. Unless as a nation we encourage, begin and require some acceptable formal accounting of our economic activities all data/information such as GDP numbers are simply cooked up and/or incomplete.

I know there are skeptics out there who will say that’s not workable in Gambia – Go will not so we have to make it workable. After 52 years and with so many educated men/women there are no excuses why we can’t do this. As a general rule Government of The Gambia should immediately stop all cas collection, cash payments besides retail bills and /or cash payout of any kind and for any reason.

Public reporting: Make it a requirement, until they are divest, all Public Corporations/Agencies report their audited accounts to the shareholders (The people of Gambia) simple, concise but detail enough for our understanding. These can be done on Radio Gambia/GRTS TV, etc. Preferably within two weeks before the presentation of the National Appropriation Bill/Budget. Such reporting should show comparisons of expected and actual of passed year accounts and the outlay of the year ahead. Until we are in the know we won’t be able to perform our civic duties/responsibilities for the good of all.

It’s madness! It’s sin! It’s immoral! To seize from the poor to service the lifestyle of few educated men/women in Banjul. Wages/government costs are incidental to the goals of taxpayers. Our numbers say otherwise! For every Dalasi of tax collected – 64 Bututs goes to service government and only 34 Bututs left to service the sovereigns’ needs/wants.

29 thoughts on “Analysing Gambia’s 2017 Appropriation Bill”

Dissolve the army, SIS, Gendarmerie, PIU, etc.: A well sized, trained and police can do every law enforcement that maybe needed in the foreseeable future. This will eliminate the civil rights/liberties abuses of these organizations

Wasn’t it announced that 2500 army jobs will be going away? A step in the right direction. Is the SIS really needed? Why couldn’t the SIS be dissolved into the Police force?

Divest all public corporations/agencies Placing them in the hands of private investment will either make them efficient (very likely) or fail (unlikely because the private investor will protect his/her investment). Continuous public ownership of these corporations incubates corruption and inefficiency.

Privatize. Sell off (NAWEC, Gamtell and GRTS (and make some money at the same time for the government). Put them in the hands of people that know how to run a business to make a profit with government oversight, of course.

Ground the public vehicle fleet, close the repair shops and seize fuel deliveries: A review to fulfill just what’s necessary will see nothing less than 80% of sell off.

Good point. Whatever happened to all of the 2 wheel and 4 wheel vehicles Taiwan gave Gambia?
Never ever saw one of them make a police stop. Mostly used to transport the family.

I have conversed with Burama for a good number of years/ This man is an economic oasis in a storm/ Digest what he writes and understand why I say Government must downsize and cuts its overheads and incredible wasteful cost/ and out of control spending/

Government could not do better than to employ this man/ and take his sound advice.

Stan; Once you start selling the family jewelry, you end up living in a tent and riding a wobbly bike.

To sell something that is broken and can be easily fixed means, your short term gains, become your future wishes/ Now is not the time to sell/ there financial asset values are much to low at present. All you will get is venture capitalist buying cheap and asset stripping/

Assets? I don’t think there is much to strip. I would guess everything is antiquated, out of date and valueless. About 4 years ago I had a chat with the manager of the security company that had guards at Kotu Power Station. He told me there were 9 generators at Kotu. Only 2 were operational. The other seven were being used for spare parts to keep the 2 running.
True? I don’t know. It’s the best explanation for all the power outages then and now that I’ve heard.

Don’t think there are any family jewels. Only looks to be costume jewelry to me.
You must have missed the part where Burama stated, “Divest all public corporations/agencies:”.
Allow the government to govern and stop throwing money in a bottomless hole.

“To The Gambia Ever True” I love Burama Jammeh signature pure and clean, if what he’s saying can be deployed things will be good for The Gambia PLC, but it will take time for the benefits to reach Mr and Mrs Gambia. Nice article, makes a change from the hate articles.

We definitely need to move away from Government being the main employer, and adopt cost saving mechanisms to reduce government overheads, but where are these workers going to be employed if the Army, SIS, PIU (which is the armed branch of the Police) were disbanded ? Is Mr Burama Jammeh suggesting that these people should simply be made redundant and join the employed ? I would like to know what the fate of these thousands will be if their places of work were shut down ?
I do not buy the idea that Public ownership leads to corruption and failure. Corruption can be found in both Privately and Publicly owned businesses. We have had very successfully run and profitable Public Corporations in the past, until they were allowed to be ruined by political patronage, corruption and mismanagement. Huge privately run businesses suffer similar fates even in the advance West.
The success or failure of a business entity does not depend on the type of ownership (public, private, sole trader, partnership, corporations, etc), but on how it is run and managed. Moreover, if there are private individuals with the capital to invest in the business sector, why shouldn’t they start from scratch and build their own businesses ? Why depend on an already established business entity that has been created and established by/with Public Funds ?
Who in their right minds would think that some foreign investor would buy NAWEC, for example, and turn it into a profitable business by providing marketable and affordable electricity to a nation, the vast majority of whose population live on less than a Dollar a day or maybe, a week.
Are we serious about National Development or not, because if we are, then we have to depart from these hallucinated economic development models (which work elsewhere because they have the super wealthy private sectors and the corresponding affluent populations), bite the bullets hard and take charge of our destiny. We should be tired of waiting for the foreign investment/investors which/who haven’t arrived for 50+ years.

BAX, I agree again that public ownership doesn’t always leads to corruption and failure, and certainly private ownership is not free from corruption and failure. I also agree that when thinking of private enterprises, poverty should be an important factor to consider.

Whichever way we choose, it should be executed smart to generate income and not pushing the poor into further impoverishment, there is enough poverty in The Gambia already. You are also right when you said “we should be tired of waiting for foreign investors which never arrived for 50 + years .” In addition, these foreign investors has been giving us too much excuses as to why they could not invest in The Gambia and in many developing countries. Certainly a real development would emerged from the efforts of both domestic and international actors. How about efforts to help build our decayed infrastructures, the transfer of technology, the best management and sustained economies of scale.

Nice, very nice.
We all agree to reducing or eliminating the GAF, but what are we going to do with all those trained killers who are now jobless roaming our streets.
We can increase revenue by seizing stolen assets from Mr Yahya Jammeh.
All in all this line of thinking is very balanced and responsible. I hope the guys and gals in charge are listening. Well said Burama.

Tough times call for tough decisions/ May I suggest that present economic data confirms, that those employed who are forced by change to move into other forms of employment choose {by enlarge} to create the new businesses that forms the new shoots of entrepreneurship. I was one of them/ forced by an unforeseen loss of income/

I recall on the day of this large fright/ I turned to my partner and said “It looks like I am going to become a Millionaire.” How right I was.

Dr. Sarr you have a good point. I don’t look forward to 2500 unemployed trained killers roaming the streets when the GAF decides to release those troops. There needs to be a retraining program attached to their release. Maybe a pension or some type of preference for open government jobs.

Free Vocational Training Programs. I think that is the most important thing the government can do for its people. I don’t remember how the saying goes but it is something like this; Give a man a bag of rice and he eats for a day. Give a man a bag of rice and teach him how to plant it and farm it and he eats for a life time. Something like that anyway.

Are we referring to the “Jungulers” as trained killers or the entire membership of the GAF ? If we mean the Jungulers, then they are only a small unit of the State Guards who should not pose any threats to anyone, because they should all be behind bars or confined to barracks until their innocence can be established. They should certainly not be freely roaming our streets and I will be utterly shocked if that was the case.
The GAF, on the other hand, though constituted of members who are trained in armed combat, is a national institution created for defending the territorial integrity of The Gambia and I personally think it should be maintained and strengthened because we live in a volatile and conflict prone region. In any case, an independent country needs to create institutions to maintain internal security and ensure the integrity of its external borders. A Police Force alone, no matter how skilfully trained and equipped, is unable to perform the two, because they are completely different.
I want to believe that the vast majority of GAF Personnel are professionals, but even if I’m wrong, I think it will be unfair to label them as “trained killers”, unless we have reasons to do so, because its a noble profession, just like any.

For 22 years the GAF was built to reflect the image of their commander in chief. Promotion was at the pleasure of one man. There is nothing professional about that organization. I am sure there may be a few good men and women left on the force, but all indications are it’s a rogue organization. Bax let’s be realistic these men and women control all instruments of war and maintain monopoly on acts of aggression by nature, they have tasted power and once let go, the expectations is that they will terrorize the citizens or mount an act of insurrection. Why do you think ECOMIG is and will remain on our shores for several years. It is important to develop a program with the help of our partners to reorient these former soldiers, failure to do these may result in insecurity.

I understand where you are coming from sister and I agree totally that the GAF needs to be reorganised, retrained and reoriented, as a National Institution. My concern was with calls for disbanding an important institution like the GAF and its replacement with a skilled Police Force.
I do not think the Police can combined Law Enforcement and National Defence Duties because the two require completely different setups, different trainings, different command structures, different operation systems, different equipment, etc.
I think the ECOMIG is a “good insurance policy” that should be kept until the security situation in the country have been stabilised and under firm control.

As a member of the Gambian family in the diaspora, I must confess I find uncle Burama Jammeh’s article very inspiring; even though I am a native Laminian, my maternal grandfather was a Badibungka Jammeh, hence my calling him “uncle” in line with centuries old Gambian traditions. Not least, in the light of the new ways of looking at the tribulations of the corporation called The Gambia Ltd.

Indeed, as Bax points out in his comments, the ideas as a whole are far from water-tight. Nonetheless, they are enlightened and the precisely the kind of new thinking we need in this period of transition, not least in that they can act as starting points for further national debates.

In particular, I find uncle Burama’s proposals for local government reforms very, very attractive. Such reforms will undoubtedly stimulate healthy competition amongst the new municipal authorities in their respective drives for local economic, social and cultural development of their areas. For instance, I find it odd that Kombo Lamin, a town with over twenty thousand inhabitants and amongst the ten largest in the country, still being being labelled a village in the Gambian Press in spite of theses fact. Surely, with three institutions of higher learning and one of the country’s eight oldest Senior Secondary Schools, towns like Kombo Lamin, Sukuta and Gunjur can undoubtedly manage their own local affairs – just like the few other municipal authorities in the country at present. Lamin was a village during the reign of my late grandfather Paa Babai Manneh Snr. and ceased to be a village population-wise during the days of his successor, the late Alkali Malamin Bojang.

On the other hand, I think Bax’s question as to where those fired from inter alias the Army would be redeployed has partly been answered by the apparent Toubabo’o Mr scales:-). Uncle Jammeh, to the best of my knowledge, has never argued that those laid off from these state institutions could not be reabsorbed in the Police Services with a view to performing tailor-made functions in the absence of a National Army. Far from it, these can also be redeployed in the wider society with a bit of creative thinking as the above-mentioned Toubabo’o points out in his comments.

Unlike many other articles I have read lately, uncle Jammeh’s proposals betrays the fact that he is by no means a financial/economic illiterate.

In the kingdom of Denmark and Greenland, I have worked in a government department and two Town Halls as either a legal officer or consultant. I am by the way the first Gambian law graduate in the Kingdom of Denmark. I currently hold a masters degree in Business Law and Business Administration from the danish University of Aalborg. Both forms of government institutions have undergone thorough structural and similar reforms in recent decades which have to say the least revolutionized public administration and the provision of public services in the kingdom. To the ultimate benefit of the taxpayer and public service employees. Needless to say, we cannot copy wholesale from these jurisdictions, but the philosophy that informed those positive development are very much in line with uncle Jammeh’s revolutionary ideas.

Let’s polish his ideas a bit henceforth with a view to adapting them to the realities on the ground … for the Gambia our homeland.

Don’t mind them, Mr Manneh. Kombo Lameng is a town and yes, it should have its own local Town Council, maybe even with surrounding communities like Mandinaring, Kunkujang Jaatayaa, Banjullunding, etc. under its domain.
I do follow and admire Mr Burama Jammeh quite a lot. I think he is one of a few Gambian Political analysts who actually know what they are talking about. His knowledge, experience and informed understanding of any issues he talks about makes him an authority to be respected and his analysis of the budget here, as usual, is spot on and very informative.
However, I have a very “thin skin” when Public ownership of businesses is disparaged for Private ownership, and my “thin skin” “splits open” when privatization is propagated as a remedy for our economy, because I have seen what it did to hundreds or maybe, thousands of workers during the ERP under Jawara, which did virtually nothing to improve the state of those privatised Public Corporations. It (ERP) did enhance our credit worthiness because that was its main purpose: create extra funds to be able to meet the ever increasing debt repayment obligations to regain creditor confidence in us.
We don’t have the Private Sector yet and we cannot continue to wait for it from abroad (Foreign Investors). Our best route is to use Public Funds to build the capacity of our economy and stimulate private sector involvement, gradually withdrawing Public involvement, as Private capacity grows.
Your experience might be invaluable when Kombo Lameng does become a Local Council.

Bax, thanks for the perspectives outlined above. Admittedly, I do recognize the shortcomings of so-called privatizations pursuant to the dictates of foreign actors like the IMF in Africa. In fact, while doing my undergraduate studies in law and economics in the late 1990s here in Denmark, I did write a paper in Danish entitled: The IMF and the World Bank – my new colonial masters who came in through the back door.

Indeed, the available statistics on the matter over the last two decades, not least in Africa, prove you right. However, it is my considered opinion that genuine wisdom is the ability to learn from past mistakes with a view to averting them in future. Accordingly, as I mentioned in my comments, let’s disentangle the single elements of Mr Jammeh’s proposals and subject them to further scrutiny in light of past privatization experiences. This will enable us to improve upon their efficacy in future.
By the way, what is wrong with say The Gambia Government signing a service delivery contract with a one of the world renown energy companies for the supply of reliable electricity to the population? Of course backed-up by appropriate legislative measures.

I have drafted such agreements between the Greenlandic Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture and private actors on numerous occasions, and they do work in practice. Both central Government and Local Authorities in Denmark regularly use such an approach. Not least, aimed at improving upon service delivery to the taxpayer. Hence, I am not convinced that the same approach cannot be replicated in a Gambian setting: Of course it will work, provided the requisite legislative framework is in place.

In conclusion, Mr Jammeh’s ideas are workable in practice. All that is needed henceforth is polishing them in the wake of serious national debates, and adapting them to Gambian realities on the ground.

Mr. Drammeh asks: “What is wrong with The Gambia Government signing a service delivery contract with a world renown energy company for the supply of reliable electricity to the population?”
What is wrong is that a Danish company’s profits would go back to Denmark; while NAWEC’s profits remain in The Gambia.
That is why “colonial” IMF and World Bank want to privatise everything – to send profits back to Western financial centres.
Of course, our politicians and the social/political elite will make deals with the IMF and World Bank – because the IMF and World Bank are smart enough to ensure that our elite get their cut of the colonial looting of Africa.

Dormu Rewwum Gambia (aka Luntango Suun Gann Gi) “Of course, our politicians and the social/political elite will make deals with the IMF and World Bank – because the IMF and World Bank are smart enough to ensure that our elite get their cut of the colonial looting of Africa.” Correct, and if the leader of the country don’t comply then they remove them, as in Gaddafi and France, these crypto-Jews have the place locked.

As to the question posed by Dormu Rewwum Gambia above on behalf of some Mr Drammeh, the answer is as follows:

To the best of my knowledge, NAWEC and its predecessor GUC have been sustaining huge losses due largely to inefficiencies in the production and distribution of electricity for over two decades – in other words a drain on taxpayers’ money. I am sure Mr Drammeh would agree with me that if the corporation were a private company, it would have been dead many years ago, not least because competitors would have out-competed the firm.

However, given the vital role reliable electricity supply plays in any economy in our globalized world, where The Gambia must necessarily compete with states where reliable electricity supplies are taken for granted, the need for considering creative solutions to this stain on our nation’s reputation cannot be over-emphasized. My proposal should be seen in this context. To put it simply a service delivery contract is something you enter into with a supplier: E.g. contracting with the local bakery for the delivery of bread over a whole year at a price agreed upon now. It is as simple as that.

In the meantime, Parliament adopts tailor-made legislation aimed inter alias at preventing the supplier from abusing its monopolistic competitive position by way of regulating its pricing policy as well as imposing penalties of different types for failure to honour individual contractual provisions. This responsibility is often placed in the hands of a tailor-made supervisory body.

Many of our French-speaking neigbouring countries have been using this instrument for decades with great success when it comes to the provision of public utilities like electricity and water supply. Ivory Coast and Senegal are but a few examples, hence the reliability and quality of the supply of these public utilities in these countries. I can assure you that the savings involved to the tax-payer are as a rule appreciable, and power outages/cuts in The Gambia shall soon be confined to the dustbin of history.

Note, neither the IMF nor the world shall be included in the equation: We as a sovereign state shall have the opportunity to pick and choose amongst available suppliers on the basis of the qualities of their individual offers. A win-win situation for both parties, so to speak.

Thank you for your reply below, Saikou M.D.Manneh. If, 60 years after independence with all our PhDs, we still cannot run our own efficient Electricty Company, then we really do deserve to remain in the DARK. Many countries in Africa, even Ethiopia which for decades has run one of the best airlines in the world, have to have foreign companies to deal with their RUBBISH. We cannot even sort out something as simple as our rubbish? We really are backward – inspite of our PhDs. The PhD now running the Africa Development Bank and mumbling about “Food Self-Sufficiency” was Minister of Agriculture in Nigeria when the “Cassava Project” failed to take off – in the world’s #1 producer of Cassava (possible because the foreign importers of flour sabotaged the project through bribery – see the OJ piece at Sambagate.com).
I think I better stop!

Say it again Bro:
“It’s madness! It’s sin! It’s immoral! To seize from the poor to service the lifestyle of few educated men/women in Banjul. Wages/government costs are incidental to the goals of taxpayers. Our numbers say otherwise! For every Dalasi of tax collected – 64 Bututs goes to service government and only 34 Bututs left to service the sovereigns’ needs/wants.”
But that is just the tax collected. How much of the “Development Aid”, UN Budget, AfDB Budget, Infracture Budget (meant for schools, hospitals, roads) ends up in the “educated Elites” pockets???
In KoruptKenya, “2% swallow 50% tax revenue” … see here:https://sambagate.com/2017/03/22/2-swallow-50-tax-revenue/
SAD, and this reality makes much of our Blah Blah Blah here meaningless.

The main job for the GAF under Yahya Jammeh was for free labour to tend his farms; Some notable Gambian officials and Some Foreign ambassadors were photographed doing a little bit of weeding too. As President he was free of Tax/

The Gambia government have not yet disclosed what the deal was to get Jammeh to leave the Gambia/

All we know is that his departure was delayed, whilst a Cargo Plane { was it from Congo?} was on route to pick up his Rolls Royce and other rolling stock.

If as President Barrow stated to France 24/ That the Gambian coffers was out by 4 Billion Dalasis/

Why is the Government not seconding all Jammeh’s farmlands and Kanalai in lieu of the alleged embezzlement? Or at least until the matter is settled. President Barrow when asked what he was going to do about it said:
“We are on it”

Freedom Newspaper published an article claiming Kanalia was inhabited by Casamance rebels and the forensic teams searching for bodies were threatened to be shot in the head/

We Know President Barrow was gleefully announcing that he had obtained a loan from the Islamic Bank for 25 Million.

>> and what did The Central Bank know about all this and The National Auditor/

What did someone say /// Freedom of Information? Transparency?

Accountability/ Oh! Dear !

Meanwhile little Fatou and Binta go to bed hungry/

BTW Fatou aged 10 and Binta aged 8 came up to me one afternoon on the seaside veranda at The Atlantic hotel to ask me for my room number/The older girl said her father was dead her Mother was sick and can’t get out of bed. I fed ’em and gave them 500 Dalasis even as security were trying to get rid of them. As she left she said:” But I still want your room number”
I wept;